A Choice
by fairytalelights
Summary: When it comes to Merida, he doesn't have much of a choice. /oneshot/


**Hey!**

**Thought I'd write something like this for fun - never really tried anything like this before. Kind of got writer's block for everything else I'm writing, so here's a little piece of nonsense for fun. I like the idea of them together. It's not much, yeah, but it was fun to write. Enjoy!**

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><p>"Have any of you seen Merida?"<p>

Astrid's head shot upwards at the sound of Queen Elinor's voice, as did the rest of the Vikings'. Elinor stood in the doorway, her long brown hair in braids down her back, streaked with grey. She didn't look very worried – only slightly curious.

"I'm sorry, Queen Elinor," said Astrid. "We haven't."

From over Elinor's shoulder, Astrid could see Hiccup, and she suddenly felt a surge of warmth. Hiccup. Even with his father's death, he'd pulled himself together, made himself the best chief that he could be, and she'd helped him whenever she could – but she soon realised that Hiccup really managed very well on his own. And here they were, a week into their stay in Scotland, making peace with the Scots.

She hadn't think anyone would've been able to do it.

But Hiccup had.

"Actually," Fishlegs offered, "I think she's with Snotlout."

"Snotlout?" Hiccup echoed, from behind Elinor, and the door swung open slightly to create space for him to stand next to Elinor. "She's with _Snotlout_?"

Catching something in Hiccup's tone, Elinor asked, in her thick accent: "Should I be worried?"

"Oh, Snotlout's harmless," said Astrid. "Harmless, but annoying." She thought of the red-headed Scottish princess, whom they'd met on their first evening. That first night, she'd been prim and proper, as they'd all expected a princess to be – but a few hours into the reception, Astrid had discovered Merida's interest in weapons and her love for horse-riding, and they'd fallen into talk easily. She was certainly a princess when she wanted to be, but she was all right.

"Oh, he's no match for Merida, for sure," Hiccup said, grinning. Astrid knew he was fond of the redhead – she was wild and crazy, and she got along with Hiccup remarkably well. Astrid would've been jealous if not for the fact that Merida treated Hiccup similar to the way she treated her father, or her younger brothers. They'd spend hours together, Astrid and Hiccup and Merida, talking about Berk and dragons and bears and witches and woodcraft.

"You know," said Ruffnut, as Elinor left the room, "I think Snotlout's just a little in love with Merida."

Hiccup nearly choked: "What?"

"Have you seen the way he looks at her?" Astrid asked him, laughing. "It's like – she's the one point his world revolves around. He's grown so much _nicer_ just by being here and being around her."

"And he hasn't flirted with a single one of the girls in the castle, or any other girl he's met," said Fishlegs, thoughtfully.

"Well, who would've thought?" Tuffnut smirked. "And so the Viking fell in love with the Scot."

"That almost sounded intellectual," said Hiccup.

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><p>She was like a fire, blazing bright and burning, sometimes sharp and stinging, sometimes warm and welcoming.<p>

He'd never ridden a horse before, and he rode behind her awkwardly, trying to keep up. He could see her itching to race forward, but she rode with him instead, talking to him and, occasionally, throwing her head back and letting out a loud laugh.

"You want one?" Merida asked, as she pulled an apple out of her satchel. Snotlout nodded and she tossed him one, biting into it eagerly.

"This is good," he said, through a mouthful of the fruit. "We don't have stuff like this back on Berk."

"You could figure out how to grow them," suggested Merida. "It isn't going to kill you."

"Yeah, right. Can you imagine asking Astrid to plant something in a garden?" Snotlout pulled a horrified face, and Merida let out that loud, infectious laughter. "Or Ruffnut? They'd probably push me off a cliff!"

"Then you do it!"

"Me? Grow stuff?"

"Yeah, you can't just kill stuff all the time, can you?" said Merida, reasonably. "You have to keep building and growing, else everything will be destroyed, and nothing will survive."

"Guess so," Snotlout said, biting into the apple again. "Never thought of it that way."

"Come on! Don't you Vikings keep building and re-building all your homes and all that? And build more stuff for all your dragons?" Her eyes shone when she mentioned dragons – Snotlout had introduced her to Hookfang, despite Hiccup's warnings not to. (He had mentioned something about making sure the Scots didn't turn on them when introducing their princess to a dragon, but whatever – it'd turned out okay.) She had been amazed and fascinated – and Hookfang had taken a liking to her, too.

A very strong liking. Now his dragon would always look at him despondently (he wasn't an idiot, he knew long words) whenever Snotlout came without Merida.

"Well, it was just something we had to _do_."

"Don't you ever think for yourself?" And she laughed again.

"Come off it. I _do _have a brain, despite what my cousin thinks."

"I like Hiccup," said Merida, naturally, and Snotlout felt a hard knot in his stomach – Hiccup had Astrid, Hiccup had taken Astrid from him a long time ago – what was it about Hiccup that had girls fawning over him?

"He's with Astrid," Snotlout said, sullenly.

She laughed; "I know. But he's fun to be around." She reached across and punched him on the shoulder – her fist was small and freckled, but it packed some serious force behind it. "But I'm with you now, aren't I? You're not so bad yourself."

She turned back to pat Angus on the head, and didn't see the wide, stupid grin spreading over Snotlout's face.

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><p>"HEY, it's Lover Boy!"<p>

Tuffnut grinned at him from where he was sprawled on the bed, as Snotlout more or less jumped into the room.

"What?" he asked, absently.

Hiccup laughed. "Lover Boy is right."

"You know you can't do anything, right?" And there was Astrid, always the practical one. "King Fergus and Queen Elinor are great people, but if you do anything to their princess – "

"Guys!" Snotlout stood, open-mouthed, staring at them. "How do you – "

"How do we know?" Fishlegs supplied. "Well, it really wasn't very difficult, once we saw you always looking for her, and even spending time in the library, and going out with her, and introducing her to Hookfang, and the way you look at her, and – "

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Snotlout thought he could feel his face heating up. "And besides," he added, collapsing on his own bed, staring up at the canopy, a loud, infectious laughter in his ears and a bright-eyed, freckled face framed with wild curls in his eyes, "I'm not going to say anything. She doesn't have a clue. And I'd rather stay as friends than, you know, ruin anything."

Astrid nudged Hiccup, and said, quietly: "He really does care for her, doesn't he?"

Hiccup nodded fervently. He'd never seen his cousin like this before. Snotlout was loud, rambunctious, tactless, insensitive, and a complete pig – but with Merida he was different. "It's strange, you know," he said, softly. "I don't think he's gonna get her out of his head anytime soon."

Snotlout only pulled his pillow over his face, trying to ignore that ever-tightening knot in his stomach when he thought of how they were leaving in a few days.

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><p>They were practising swordfighting.<p>

He'd never seen anyone fight like her before. She was graceful yet harsh, delicate yet wild.

As for Merida - she didn't often see anyone fight like that. He fought hard, with force, much like her father and the guards did - but there was a technique to his steps, in his movements, that made her think of someone who knew how to survive, and how to take his chances where he could.

Well, _of course_ he fought like that. He _was_ a Viking, after all.

"Never seen anyone fight like you before," he said to her, when they'd finally collapsed, sticking their blades in the grass and collapsed on the grass.

"Never seen anyone fight like _you_," she said. "You Vikings incorporate your crazy kill-or-be-killed tactic into everything you do, don't you?"

"Me? Crazy? Now why would you think that?"

She laughed: "You really have to ask?"

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><p>"You have to promise to come back to visit," Merida said, that last day.<p>

She stood a little aside with Snotlout, her parents talking to Hiccup and Astrid somewhere near them. She couldn't care less. Hiccup was nice, yes, and Astrid was wonderful, but Snotlout had been her constant companion since the Vikings had come and the treaty signed. There was no way he was leaving without promising a visit.

"Do I get a choice?" he asked her, grinning.

She smiled. "No."

His face softened. "I'll miss you, you know."

And then his face flamed as they heard snickers next to them – Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and at their feet, three smirking red-headed boys. Merida rolled her eyes: "Get lost, boys."

Merida and Snotlout moved away slightly, Snotlout slightly uneasily, uncomfortably aware of King Fergus' eyes boring into him: "I think your dad's watching me."

"He is," said Merida, and laughed: "Think he's afraid there's something between us."

"Huh." Snotlout managed a smile.

Merida glanced over at Hookfang, watching them peacefully. "I'll miss Hookfang, too." She poked Snotlout's shoulder: "You _have_ to visit. It isn't even an option. It won't take Hookfang that long to fly here, would it?"

"Not that long at all."

"I'll be expecting you."

And then, suddenly, unexpectedly, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek – and then, face flushing, she hugged him, lightly, and as if on their own accord, he wrapped his arms around her.

He couldn't remember feeling this – feeling this at peace before. With _anyone_. Although Hookfang came pretty close.

"I'll miss you too," he heard her say, muffled, through the exploding mess otherwise known as her hair. "You'd _better_ come back. I'm not giving you a choice."

Snotlout could only smile to himself, stupidly. Like he even had a choice in the first place.

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><p><strong>Hope it wasn't too strange - first time trying out something like this. I know Snotlout and Merida are a little OOC, but I was thinking, well, Merida has changed Snotlout for the better, hasn't she? That was what I was trying to show. And Merida's definitely going to be a lot more mature after the incident with her mum. <strong>

**Hope you liked it!**

**(Bytheway - anyone up for a ROTBFTD crossover with other Disney characters? Just wondering if anyone's interested, should I choose to write one.)**


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